Words into the abyss....
"Once a word leaves your mouth, you cannot chase it back even with the swiftest horse"~Chinese Proverb
The old Axiom of sticks and stones may carry a good message about inner worth and self esteem, but it's a fantastic fallacy. Truth is that words have meaning, and they are powerful. That's why the Bible talks about edifying speech and building up one another. It is true that if you are someone who is secure enough to not worry about petty gossip or malicious slander, you more than likely have a less stressful and more fulfilling life. That's why words are an integral part of an actor's message, an actor's performance and their delivery.
Seeing how the person who had asked me to work on a Middle Easter accent for an audition coming up was someone I respect and trust, I immediately dove headlong into it. Surprisingly, perhaps in part because I grew up speaking Spanish and French, an Arabic accent came easily. Within 40 minutes of practicing, I had a good handle on portraying that on screen, but then.....nothing. The audition was to be for a show being filmed in Dallas called "The Chosen" about the life of Christ. Strangely enough, a few months ago I was watching "The Bible" on the History channel and had thought to myself "Maybe one day I'll do a show more in depth about Jesus' time on earth", but much like my idea for "The Titanic", someone else beat me to it. Ha.
Since a few weeks had passed without a word, I had all but given up on working on that project, but in yet another strange turn of events, when I was about to contact the casting director letting her know I probably wouldn't audition for the project....I got a text from her within less than 10 mins of that thought! She asked if I could come in that same day for the audition, and again being someone I respect and trust, I obliged. Only one issue: I had no script to work on and did not know which role I had to prepare for! After what seemed like an eternity and a half (I was at work at the time), I was emailed the script and TWO roles that I would be reading for.
One was for a religious figure and the other was for that of a affluent character, probably a tax collector since they are prominent in some of the Bible stories. With less than two hours to work on both those roles, I approached it with the same diligence that I did as an Olympic Hopeful from my younger years. I read the script thoroughly, visualized the context of the scene, visualized the different characters I was interacting with, googled several words in Hebrew and practiced their correct pronunciation not only in real terms, but also in how to fit it into the scene. I then practiced. A lot.
Practiced at my office with some clients in the next office looking at me like I was strange for talking to myself (they couldn't hear through the glass, so I pretended to be on the phone!). Then went to a FroYo shop after work and practiced some more there. Then practiced over a dozen times in my car at stoplights and outside the audition studio until it was close to time to go in. I knew the lines and the scene and all the particulars like the back of my hand in less than two hours!!
Upon meeting the second casting director, one that had been in LA doing the main casting there, I felt a little bad that she had to come in here after working hours for her just to meet with me for this audition. But she was gracious and extremely nice/accommodating. They asked me if I wanted a hard copy of the script and I confidently said no. After all, I knew it like the back of my hand by now. Then the camera came on, and disaster struck right off the bat. The entire time I had practiced, I had expected that one of the directors would start me off with the accompanying line (from my script wife) and then I'd pick it up from there. That was not the case. I was asked to start off from my first line and my mind went completely blank, so I walked over to one of the casting directors and asked to see the first line on HER handout.
After going through one take, in which I had to pull up my phone for the email of the script, the second casting director said "Let's get him a hard copy to help him out." Which was bad because the support/office staff had already gone home so the OTHER casting director had to go HERSELF to print out another script (facepalm emoji). The second director asked me to run through the scene once again while we waited and although it was better, it was still a "Back To The Future Part III" at the end of the movie train wreck, where the DeLorean gets crushed.
Finally on the third take, once I was more comfortable, I was able to clean up the audition a tad more. Except for two parts: the first one was me doing a theater booming fake laugh which undoubtedly looked fake as can be on camera, and also going off camera to whisper as the scene required (but not the audition where you have to stay in the camera frame). With some direction from the second casting director (look at her off camera, not to the side where we can't catch the words or your face), we did one more take.
The last take was the best, and on that one, I was told "ok, that's good." As soon as I said these next words, I immediately realized "I just insulted a career professional with more than 30 years experience doing this type of work." Instead of taking her lead and going with it and moving to the next scene, I sheepishly asked "Are you sure? That's good?" Visibly annoyed at the query, she merely said "Yes, I'm sure." The second scene was only one take and that one was easy because by now I was comfortable with my surroundings, was more in tune with the characters, and it wasn't as many lines to deliver.
To be honest, the only thing I regret in the whole experience were those three words: "Are you sure." Although I don't think that was the make or break portion of the audition, to this day I feel bad having unwittingly questioned the casting director's expertise. Not because I didn't get the part, as I have mentioned I was already not really thinking about auditioning for various reasons, but because I know how hard she must have worked for years to be taken seriously in a predominantly patriarchal industry the past few years. The last thing she needed was to have to stay past the normal working day and then have some rube try and dictate how the audition would go. Words, they are powerful, they have meaning....and once they are uttered, they are out in the abyss of life.
The old Axiom of sticks and stones may carry a good message about inner worth and self esteem, but it's a fantastic fallacy. Truth is that words have meaning, and they are powerful. That's why the Bible talks about edifying speech and building up one another. It is true that if you are someone who is secure enough to not worry about petty gossip or malicious slander, you more than likely have a less stressful and more fulfilling life. That's why words are an integral part of an actor's message, an actor's performance and their delivery.
Seeing how the person who had asked me to work on a Middle Easter accent for an audition coming up was someone I respect and trust, I immediately dove headlong into it. Surprisingly, perhaps in part because I grew up speaking Spanish and French, an Arabic accent came easily. Within 40 minutes of practicing, I had a good handle on portraying that on screen, but then.....nothing. The audition was to be for a show being filmed in Dallas called "The Chosen" about the life of Christ. Strangely enough, a few months ago I was watching "The Bible" on the History channel and had thought to myself "Maybe one day I'll do a show more in depth about Jesus' time on earth", but much like my idea for "The Titanic", someone else beat me to it. Ha.
Since a few weeks had passed without a word, I had all but given up on working on that project, but in yet another strange turn of events, when I was about to contact the casting director letting her know I probably wouldn't audition for the project....I got a text from her within less than 10 mins of that thought! She asked if I could come in that same day for the audition, and again being someone I respect and trust, I obliged. Only one issue: I had no script to work on and did not know which role I had to prepare for! After what seemed like an eternity and a half (I was at work at the time), I was emailed the script and TWO roles that I would be reading for.
One was for a religious figure and the other was for that of a affluent character, probably a tax collector since they are prominent in some of the Bible stories. With less than two hours to work on both those roles, I approached it with the same diligence that I did as an Olympic Hopeful from my younger years. I read the script thoroughly, visualized the context of the scene, visualized the different characters I was interacting with, googled several words in Hebrew and practiced their correct pronunciation not only in real terms, but also in how to fit it into the scene. I then practiced. A lot.
Practiced at my office with some clients in the next office looking at me like I was strange for talking to myself (they couldn't hear through the glass, so I pretended to be on the phone!). Then went to a FroYo shop after work and practiced some more there. Then practiced over a dozen times in my car at stoplights and outside the audition studio until it was close to time to go in. I knew the lines and the scene and all the particulars like the back of my hand in less than two hours!!
Upon meeting the second casting director, one that had been in LA doing the main casting there, I felt a little bad that she had to come in here after working hours for her just to meet with me for this audition. But she was gracious and extremely nice/accommodating. They asked me if I wanted a hard copy of the script and I confidently said no. After all, I knew it like the back of my hand by now. Then the camera came on, and disaster struck right off the bat. The entire time I had practiced, I had expected that one of the directors would start me off with the accompanying line (from my script wife) and then I'd pick it up from there. That was not the case. I was asked to start off from my first line and my mind went completely blank, so I walked over to one of the casting directors and asked to see the first line on HER handout.
After going through one take, in which I had to pull up my phone for the email of the script, the second casting director said "Let's get him a hard copy to help him out." Which was bad because the support/office staff had already gone home so the OTHER casting director had to go HERSELF to print out another script (facepalm emoji). The second director asked me to run through the scene once again while we waited and although it was better, it was still a "Back To The Future Part III" at the end of the movie train wreck, where the DeLorean gets crushed.
Finally on the third take, once I was more comfortable, I was able to clean up the audition a tad more. Except for two parts: the first one was me doing a theater booming fake laugh which undoubtedly looked fake as can be on camera, and also going off camera to whisper as the scene required (but not the audition where you have to stay in the camera frame). With some direction from the second casting director (look at her off camera, not to the side where we can't catch the words or your face), we did one more take.
The last take was the best, and on that one, I was told "ok, that's good." As soon as I said these next words, I immediately realized "I just insulted a career professional with more than 30 years experience doing this type of work." Instead of taking her lead and going with it and moving to the next scene, I sheepishly asked "Are you sure? That's good?" Visibly annoyed at the query, she merely said "Yes, I'm sure." The second scene was only one take and that one was easy because by now I was comfortable with my surroundings, was more in tune with the characters, and it wasn't as many lines to deliver.
To be honest, the only thing I regret in the whole experience were those three words: "Are you sure." Although I don't think that was the make or break portion of the audition, to this day I feel bad having unwittingly questioned the casting director's expertise. Not because I didn't get the part, as I have mentioned I was already not really thinking about auditioning for various reasons, but because I know how hard she must have worked for years to be taken seriously in a predominantly patriarchal industry the past few years. The last thing she needed was to have to stay past the normal working day and then have some rube try and dictate how the audition would go. Words, they are powerful, they have meaning....and once they are uttered, they are out in the abyss of life.
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